fourth. she was like, "of course it would be serious if it were true." i watched what happened. the lie bought time for the mainstream media it to spend five months trying to put hump the dump the back -- -- humpty dumpty back together again. and it reallya very sophisticato turn the conservatives into panty sniffers. there were just obsessed with the president's sex life, he was intimidating witnesses, telling monica that she had to tell when that -- linda tripp to lie under

oath. what kind of dirt that they have on her to maker shut her up? this was our media? then we headed into the territory of the evil spirit this behavior against catherine will lay, the women, the women. i believe anita hill, the bumper sticker. i believe catherine willey. why would she like? i believe all of these women buried there is a consistency to disguise behavior. yet the mainstream media is covering up for him. and they created a mechanism by which they simply split the country, which is what the left does, read it in my book, it is the best book ever. it is not. david mamet's book is better. it sucks, but he is david mamet.

i watched how he took a slam- dunk and put it back through the hoop, the who, thank you very much. people that help me when i'm speeches and and a loss for words. something has to be done about this. something has to be done about this imbalance of power. the fact that this is a center- right nation and the mainstream media, this allegedly neutral and objective people, based out of new york and los angeles where i have an apartment and house, i am hep and i shallow, i know what you're up to, i cut your cocktail parties and i hear your contempt for people in middle america. do not tell me you are neutral. [applause] my entire business model is based upon having no money, and

having to -- having the resources of the american people who i became friends with at tulane university. they were nice, their parents were nice, their friends were nice. i went back to los angeles and tell them that they had to stop maligning them. i said, to with that, i'm going to war against my neighbors. it is the most awkward thing. i still live there. i show up at kids party is and i am standing off to the side and people are glaring at me. and i say, i'm going after you. i have weird pictures that people have sent me of you. i say, do not come up to me. do not bother me. [laughter] anyway, everything i needed to learn, i learned during the clinton era. everything, everything, everything, everything, everything. everything, everything. it is the way that the consorted

together, the way that they literally used property detectives and leaked the information to the "washington post" and the "new york times declinedhenry -- "new york times." hyde had an affair before, and that is relevant? they leaked the stuff to larry plant. and did you happen to see the press conference on the great publisher from that great movie, the people versus larry klein, that free-speech ikon? he went after anyone in everything and everything that their private detectives lead. and i said, holy mackerel, the collusion between the mainstream media and the democratic party, it is so nasty, someone has to stand up to the senate cannot just be a and talk radio and

blogs saying the media is biased. we have to report the truth not reported by the scruff of people. -- this group of people. [applause] i cannot do it myself. in fact, i do not do it myself. and i like the perception that people think i do it myself. but i did not believe and know that much about a quorum until james o'keefe came to me you what -- acorn and doug james o'keefe came to me with a box with the ball on the top, and i thought hole lead -- holy -- what would you come to a doofus, a shallow doofus in west los angeles in a basement without a budget, why did you just that abc and cbs and nbc and let them watch the story?

and that is because james and hannah recognize the same thing that i recognize, that the entire game is rigged. these of the people that i do this with. i do it with you. i bizarrely give out my cell phone number at these events. i say, call me if you have anything. you want to know a really good -- people ask me for tips. this is not even in the book. the most important step i can give you is to be petty. [laughter] on twitter, i do not care if it is chablis2353 with two followers, i will argue with that person for eight hours. [applause] [laughter] when it comes to my idea of

media, if there is a teacher in sioux falls who is breaking -- berating a young student about sarah palin and dominion azzam, why we cannot have her as president, i did in the know what that is. but they talked about that in math class is. film that bitch. [cheers and applause] because i am petty and that is news and i want a fire that lady. there is no story that a small enough that does not get me titillated. [laughter] and you should feel the same exact way. we are in the most exciting time ever in the history of media. [applause]

this is a revolutionary time of at that -- epic proportions. it is just not being represented that way. by our friends in the mainstream media. unfortunately, 80 correct -- katie couric, a lot of them are losing their jobs. and they are not losing their jobs because of budgetary constraints. they are not losing their jobs because the proliferation of cable channels. they are not losing their jobs because they are getting older and long in the tooth. [laughter] they are losing their jobs because they've suck. the american people know it. head [cheers and applause] then again, i sense the

hostility. i know that is being taped. i went over to the netroots nation today and they kicked me out. [cheers and applause] i want to be a ray of light right now. [laughter] i want to bring people together. it's really why i am here and you know that. [laughter] i like liberals. i do. the ones that are nice. the ones to tell the truth. the ones that are now at the bar last night until 2:30 hanging out and were nice. they said we agree that you want

to change the world and we want to change the world. we can agree to disagree. and that is all i ever want for you lost me on the political correctness stopper you lost me on the censorship stop. you lost me on the intimidation of people that disagree with you. you lost me on the tallest arianism and of hollywood and the mainstream media. if you're willing to come over here and break bread the best there is no bread, we're just drinking wine, for crying out loud -- i am a fan of yours. and i do want a reconciliation in this country. i do, i want to get back to the point where we can agree to disagree. because this is getting a bit ridiculous. this is about 10 and mature years of the left hiding because we finally realized that hollywood matters and the mainstream media matters and the

college's matters and we are finally saying, maybe we should rest absolute control from these people. they did not like it or they fought back and then we decided to fight back and it is really bad. what i think we are heading toward is the british newspaper model. it got the "guardian" and the "independent" and i read them and their left-of-center and there are compelling stories. they are obsessed with big business. they break stories on big business is being corrupt. then you have the right of center papers that are obsessed with big corporations -- i mean, with big government. there. it is cool parity i am not for the outing -- the suppression of the adding of corrupt republicans. there is a huge difference. i am totally for all of these

republican screwballs to get into trouble getting fired or quit saying today that they get caught, not stretching out for three ludicrous unbelievably weeks. thank you very much, congressman weiner. thank you. i loved every second of it, congressman weiner. especially the hack part. i am the hacker. so we are fighting back. we are entering a phase where objective and neutral journalism is now laughable thing of the fast. it does not exist. i met the people that trotter pretzel themselves into being totally neutral. no one is neutral in the entire world. you have used the cudgel of

false neutrality as a means to push the american narrative to the left for the last 40 years. to hell with it. i am sorry that i am being honest and i believe in freedom and liberty over tyranny and over taxation and paternalism. and all the stupid crap that the left stands for. but i'm getting back in the negativity. let me get back into the peaceful phase or write to levitate across the crowding go to the netroots nation crowd right now when we can kumbayah. if anyone saw that i went over there yesterday after having helpful moments with people on the left to agree to disagree. i did not know what to expect but i do have a quality in did not expect that when and in -- i

do not know. did anyone see the video? did anyone hear about it? they did not want me there, apparently i was there to answer any of their questions on any of my allegedly lies or selected edits and all those great things. why was not dressed as a pen -- oh, that was james at the acorn office. i was still expecting something to happen. i have video cameras and an entourage, l.a. shallow style following me, because i was going down the escalator and i saw the mass of the netroots. this is not one and pretty. -- going to end pretty. one guy highjack the moment and ask me pertinent journalistic questions. they do not like my journalism

and think i am a good journalist. they like to put on their display of their great journalism. here are questions i was asked. have you ever been with a gay hooker? [laughter] what is up with your cocaine problem? i think they said that i was involved in a hate crime last night. involving some muslim women wearing hijabs last night. it is so fun being lectured by them on proper journalism when the questions that they are asking you are psychedelic. that is the only word i have. [laughter] and he does not understand that i now love him. i love him. not because i am jesus-like, but because he makes me laugh. people that make me laugh i love.

i want to end on a very peaceful much. in my book, i write about how you need to go into enemy territory like bill mahar. everyone says do not do it. after i go on his show in know, i did not like your politics at all but i thought it was pretty cool that you stood up for what you believe gen. and that was me. 20 years ago, the only way we are. convince these people that we are not evil that our freedom and we liberties we want not just for ourselves, our shallows cells, but for them as well and we have to get it through their toskulls and i will hang out and drink with them tonight if they so choose, is that this crazy whyng crazyi will end -- 0

did i do that? it was totally fun and i like created media and the merry prankster thing going on. that is why. but i also want to change minds. i want there to be the andrew breitbart that sought the clarence thomas hearings and saw that something was wrong. we cannot keep preaching to the choir. we have to bring in new people. [applause] i have a special project, and i want to end -- do not share this. this is off the record, friends. [laughter] i have a special project that i am working on. you're going to think it is unbelievable and you're not going to believe that but this is one under% true. i am working on operation alan colmes. i am going to convert him. [laughter]

i am going to convert him. [applause] it is just a symbolic act. if i can convert talent colmes, we can convert the world. is there anyone more reflexively liberal on tv where you are saying, while, i never thought that one could defend anthony weiner at this juncture. [laughter] and so here is the e-mail that i received -- well, if you believe my reporting. [laughter] at 7:30 p.m. this evening. i just saw and video of the sky shouting questions at you. assholes like that give liberals a bad name. you handled it well. alan. [cheers and applause]

ladies and gentlemen, i think we have the makings of a monumental revolution to bring back the american people to a right- center nation. colmes at time. thank you very much. [applause] ♪ ["born in america" playing] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our online strategy

director, eric! ♪ >> hello again, red online. thank you all for being here. i hope that andrew breitbart can forgive me for having our production crew play him not to rebecca black's "friday." by executive director. asked about us, said that that is great. it is your little brother tugging on your shirt, asking to play with your toys. we were little brother, they

were big brother. [laughter] [applause] i wanted to quickly show you all what paul was an interesting article that appeared a couple of months ago in roll call. democrats are hoping that found a secret weapon to win back the house in 2012, twitter. let's see how that is working for them. [cheers and applause] 1 down, a few more to go. it is our pleasure tonight to recognize three people who have really done some ground-breaking world and online media and activism. i like to welcome to the stage our new hampshire state director. ♪ >> thank you, eric. and thank you all for being here. tonight is my privilege to

recognize and activists from the state of new hampshire who is gone above and beyondskp murphy has been an active -- who has gone above and beyond. skip murphy uses on-line tools to drive offline actions. it is my privilege tonight to ask him to come out and join me as i present this award to him. ♪ this award is a right online award presented to skip murphy in recognition of your leadership in modern media

presented by the americans for prosperity foundation. thank you. ♪ >> thank you. as we all know, al gore invented the internet. said heecall that he took the initiative and creating the ever net. so our al gore all award for someone who is use that internet to advance the free-market movement. no better recipient this year, this was someone who runs the blog say anything. he has organized rallies in north dakota with over 10,000 attendees. that is quite an amazing accomplishment. i can promise you that there is not up single elected official in north dakota and all across

this country who are credibly aware to he is. i like to recognize rob to the stage to welcome -- to accept the al gore all word for online excellence. -- award for online excellence. in recognition of your leadership in advancing economic freedom and liberty for modern media. thank you, rob. [applause] ♪ our final award recipient could not be with us but sent a video message to except this award. this official not only to their personal use of media demonstrates recognition of this importance but has also used online media as a central tool to a dancing their agenda as an elected official. at the same time they inspire

hundreds if not thousands of citizens to get engaged using online media in advance in the public policy process. this is for governor rick perry. [applause] >> i want to thank erik telford and americans for prosperity for this award. what the. the blogging committee for your spirited defense of the values that made our nation great in your efforts to hold elected officials accountable. would you consider yourself a blocker for a new media acted as the mature part of the powerful force that is restoring balance to the public discourse. by speaking directly to your audience is coming to assault -- you have helped us achieve a lot in taxes. we just passed a two-year budget with significant cut spending what funding central services. like you, we know that texans can spend their own money better than any government official could on their best day,

especially those in washington, d.c. like folks in all 50 states, a lot of texans are fed up with the federal government that has relentless efforts to encroach on our liberties and control our lives, businesses, and take more of our money. this administration has clearly forgotten it was the states that created the federal government. not the other way round. if left unchecked, it will eventually change the factors which have put our states and the leadership positions in so many to central categories. thanks to our conservative leadership principles, we can say that our economy is second to none. we lead the nation in job creation, inbound business relocation, and our legal reforms of transformed us from america's lawsuit capital into a place where business owners and doctors to spend their time working instead of testifying in a court room. throw in our refusal to add an

income tax, are proud status as a right to work state, and you better recipe for success. i accept the award on the behalf of the hard-working people and our state to of fraud in our job-friendly environment. i want to attack americans for prosperity for establishing right online here in texas. keep the ball that rework. -- all that great work. it can restore the necessary balance between washington and the states. it puts america back on track to true greatness. until then, if you have had enough, to get your phone and text fedup to 95613 and again always follow me on twitter. may god continue to bless the state of texas and this nation that we love so much.

[applause] >> for us to be affected as a movement, it is elected officials like governor. food recognize the importance and the value of online media. annotates activists like you in this room. we hope that you take as tools and skills you have been learning, go home and build up your computers and use them to hold our elected officials accountable. i think you all for being here and look forward to seeing you tomorrow. ♪ >> next, keith ellison at the netroots bloggers convention. then another chance to see the right online conference with john fund and enter breitbart. in the weekly addresses with president obama and indiana senator dan coats. on newsmakers this week, rand paul, one of the founders of the seen it -- senate tea party conference. he talks about the debate over

raising the debt ceiling and says that he and conservative senators will filibuster next week unless the senate takes up a plan to raise the debt ceiling and pass the balanced budget amendment. >> i am part of the freshmen group in the senate saying no more. we're not letting them go to any issue if we have a say in it. next week we will filibuster until we talk about the debt ceiling and the proposal, and many of us in the conservative wing are going to present our own proposal next week. and that is to raise the debt ceiling, but in favor of raising the debt ceiling next week if we can, but contingent on passing a balanced budget amendment to the constitution. >> you can see the entire interview sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on c-span. it is also available online at c-span.org. >> this fourth of july 3-day weekend on american history tv on c-span3, we will visit the

smithsonian history to learn about the 19th century u.s. government expedition to circumnavigate the globe and the treasure, 40 tons of specimen, which became the foundation of the smithsonian institution. former first lady laura bush on her time in the white house, planning the presidential library, and her memoir. then a panel including former clinton press secretary in -- discussing jfk's relationship the press. it the complete schedule at c- span.org/history. >> this week's closing session of the net written nation's annual conference featured an award ceremony for immigration activists and keith ellison. netroots nation as a gathering of online activists and politicians who use new media to communicate with constituents. this is just over 2 hours. >> i will introduce a couple of people throughout the night. we have a great guest coming up

for you who is a bit of a surprise to, one of the good guys in congress. i want to talk to you about what we have seen that netroots so far. one, i understand we have been talking about campaign finance reform. i could not be happier about that. [applause] senator feingold gave a great speech on that and i could not agree more with him. as vince lombardi said about winning, it is not everything, it is the only thing. we will lose on every single issue unless we win on campaign finance reform. corporate money has bought our politics wholesale, wholesale. people, i want you to understand this because it is important. the talking points go around and

a lot of us believe it, liberals are harder to organize. it's like herding cats, the famous old comment. there's the sense that liberals are weaker because of that. and we're supposed to give in to republicans and that is the way it has always been. i will explain to you right now that that is nonsense. that is a lie. liberals in this country have had a history of enormous strength. our founding fathers were liberals. there were the most liberal people in the world at that time they put together a secular country and said that we will have all the rights enumerated in the bill of rights in the constitution. it was the most liberal document the world had ever seen. george washington, thomas jefferson, and the list goes on and on. but i want to get to recent history.

fdr made an enormous difference in the way that we run this country. we had the new deal and it does not get any stronger than fdr. were big businesses attacking him at that time. you better believe it. and he said, i welcome their hatred. and i am coming. and he did the new deal for this country and the middle-class and what did we do? we created a middle class. and between 1947 and 1977, d note that the bottom they outgrew their income at a higher rate than the top? that seems unimaginable now. look what happened. all the boats were lifted. when you care about the middle- class, and democrats cared about the middle class, they fought for the middle class.

fdr did that, and even up to the 1970's, liberals were so strong, they got richard nixon to pass that dpj, to start the epa. can you imagine? you had ralph nader running roughshod in the 1970's. seat belts, osha, the list goes on and on. of all the regulations we did to help real america, why did it change? people say ronald reagan. it was before reagan. two supreme court decisions made all the difference. i call them the original citizens united. political speech was a first amendment right. and you could spend money and that was the equivalent of political speech. the disaster began there. in 1978, first national bank of boston said that corporations could spend money on politics, and it was their first amendment right. which is nonsense.

corporations are not human beings. they are so less two jsoulless -- they are soulless machines, and they are destroying our country. it is time to fight back. since that decision, corporations have been taking over slowly. the way they took over is they bought almost all of our politicians. washington at this point is nearly hopeless. you look at the republicans, a wholly-owned subsidiary of america. -- corporate america. there is nothing that they actually care about. they do not have a single principle. it is not about that. i can show you case by case, issue by issue, when you go down the list, it is based on corporate principles. what does the guy who signs my paycheck want me to do, because he is my boss. they say free-market?

they do not believe in the pre- market for a second. look at the oil companies. $45 billion at a minimum. i thought they cared about balanced budgets. they want to give $45 billion of our money to the biggest oil companies. republicans hate balanced budgets because they like to take all of our money and give it to their corporate donors. we are talking freemarket with the republicans? republicans take a free market. what they love is saying it halliburton, what do you need? do you want me to start a war for you? i can do that. you will make a lot of money. lockheed martin, what do you need? exxonmobil, what do you need? koch industries, what you need? you sign the paychecks and i will do your bidding for you. that is 90% of the republican party. when it comes to the democratic

party, it is not much better. there are a couple of good guys, there is no question about it. you will hear from a couple of the good guys tonight. and there are some fighters who are neither democrats nor republicans, obviously the best shining example of that is bernie sanders. [applause] but i have bad news for you if you are relying on politicians, either republicans or democrats in washington, to do the right thing. they ain't going to do it. they work for the people who sign their paychecks. they get elected based on money. that money comes from corporations. there is only one issue in this country, campaign finance reform. [applause] until we take that money out of politics, we are going to lose on all those issues, because they have more money than we do. for example, social security. are you seeing what is going on with this? the aarp, they are saying it is

okay to raise the retirement age? they are supposed to represent senior citizens, and they are selling them out. do not let anybody tell you different. it is a wholesale sellout of senior citizens. if you raise the retirement age to 70, it costs every single american over $63,000. they are coming to rob you. why are they robbing you? there is a class war going on, and is on you. i do not know if you know it. there have redistributed the welt to the very top. -- the wealth to the very top. the rich pay less, the corporations pay less. do you know who pays more? the number one tax that has gone up as a percentage over the last few years is the payroll tax. why? because that is you guys. they love it when you pay the bills. they hate it when corporations pay the bill. if republican comes and says we have to raise the retirement age, you fight it. if a democrat comes to you and

says we are going to raise the retirement age and rob you of tens of thousands of dollars, you fight them. [applause] if aarp, the so-called representative of senior citizens says they are wrong to raise the retirement age, should you fight them? hell yeah, you should fight them. i love what is going on at net routes. -- netroots. there is a recognition that you have to take the fight to the local and state levels. there is a shining example of what has gone right in this country. it is called wisconsin. [applause] i am discouraged by at least 90% of what happens in washington, but i am greatly encouraged by what happened in wisconsin. coke industries etc., give money -- koch industries, etc.,

give money to scott walker, he comes in and says what you need me to do? do you need me to hurt workers, take away from the employees? but the need to do, i am here for you. we saw what perfectly what that call. scott walker says yes, sir, how can i help you, sir? who else can i heard for you, sir? he was talking to his boss. but what happened? people fought back and said not this time. not on our watch. that is what i need all of you to do, wherever you are, whatever city you are in, whatever state you are in, whatever issue is, i need you to stand up and say i do not care if it is coming from the guy who promises change. i don't care if nobody is coming, i am going. [applause] here are the only people who are

going to stand up for you. all of us together. all the people in this room. we have great organizing ability now, weatherproof net routes, blogs, the internet. they did it in egypt, they did it in russia, they did it in wisconsin. we can do that everywhere. don't wait on anybody. one of the good guys in washington d.c. is with us tonight. he came in and replace the republican. it was a critical vote at that time. he has been fighting a good fight. senator sheldon whitehouse from ryland. -- from rhode island [applause] . >> thank you. i have a very have a job here this evening. it is my great honor and my great pleasure to announce that netroots nation is coming to

ryland, the ocean state, in 2012 -- netroots nation is coming to rhode island. [applause] i hope the cameras are getting all this applause, because it feels good up here. providence is a beautiful city. it is as blue as the waters of narragansett bay. for those of you who like caribou coffee here in minnesota, i think you will love dunkin donuts in rhode island. we know providence will love having you there. providence, r.c., brazilian, ethnically diverse providence, filled with great universities, amazing restaurants, and unique history, may just steal your heart away, too. many of you may not know that the organizers of netroots

nation were considering holding this year's meeting in ryland -- in rhode island, but hotel workers at the westin and providence were locked in a contract dispute. workers had been fired and unilateral terms, including a pay cut, imposed. your decision supported the hotel workers call for a boycott. the boycott succeeded at bringing a resolution. a resolution after nearly a year of fighting was a happy ending. those workers were able to ratify a new contract that he raised the pay cut and brought some of those who were laid off back to work immediately. we will meet some of them when we gather in providence in 2012. i mentioned it that story because it is the story of workers across the country. the republican party, with the help of its corporate allies, is

pursuing an agenda openly and relentlessly hostile to working americans. whether it is republican governors across the country balancing their states' budgets on the backs of the middle-class and using budget crises as excuses to take away basic rights from workers, or it is a republican house of representatives threatening social security and medicare, cornerstones of security for the american middle class, or republicans protecting powerful corporations from paying their fair share to support this country, in some cases pay nothing at all. all while corporate influence over our judicial system continues to grow. as i said on a panel this morning, our supreme court is making it harder and harder for ordinary working people to challenge corporate actions in court. winston churchill once noted that great quarrels or rise from small occasions, but seldom from

small causes. a budget fight in one state or a labor dispute in providence may seem to those faraway a small occasion. but they are part of a great cause that unites us here today , the cause of rescuing our middle class life from a recession that threatens its existence and an alliance of republicans and corporate interests that seek to destroy its very foundations. affordable health care, good public schools, a clean and healthy environment, the security of a dignified retirement -- these are the foundations of prosperity for those who work hard and play by the rules. just as our community came together to fight for workers in wisconsin, let us come together to fight with the same vigor for those same values across the country. let that be our great quarrel,

to save the america we know from a radical experiment in economic division, and let it be one we win. [applause] and let us celebrate our victory, america's victories, when we meet again next year in providence. thank you very, very much. [applause] >> thank you, senator. hello, everybody. >> you can do better than that. hello, everybody. i think that site is louder than this side. did you hear that? >> can i ask you guys, how are you all doing?

that is a lot of energy, but how about you guys? i want to introduce a very good friend of mine. dorothy in her spare time runs an amazing outfit called progressive congress. she is a member of the board of directors -- board of directors of netroots nation. >> i want to introduce one of my very good friends, arshad hasan. he runs an organization called democracy for america. when he is not running it, he is doing a really important work of being on the board of netroots nation. [applause]

>> we are here to tell you a little bit about how much netroots nation seems to me and how it got started, and why we play so much value in netroots nation. we were there in 2006. i want to know how many people -- please stand up. how many people here are at their third netroots nation? give yourselves a hand. how about your fourth netroots nation? how many are here for the fifth netroots nation? [applause] who are our perfect attendance people? [cheers and applause]

i loved it. >> i did not get to go to that first netroots nation. i only made it starting at the second one. i got to come to the second one as a candidate for the united states congress. i apologize to all of you for not winning. it has meant a tremendous amount tiki to be able to come to these events and talk to all of you about the step that you are working on and the things that you really care about. this event is incredibly important, not only to the future of the progressive movement, but to the future of our country. >> i agree. there is so much all of us can learn from each other. we can build off each other, just getting to know each other. some of us will start talking to each other over e-mail or read about each other's work.

many of us are meeting each other for the first time, but that energy and dedication really mean something and we can really build off of that. every year i come out of this conference energize, educated, and really ready to do the real work a i am inspired by each and every one of you because you do all of the work that it takes to take back your country, your town, your community, your school board. it is really inspirational to meet and it makes a big impact. >> here is the thing that is not necessarily obvious. what you paid to get into this conference covers about one- third of the cost of holding it. the rest of the funding that is needed to put this on and make it possible for us to get together is money they get paid forward by the people who come -- who have come in the years before. every year from the first one, there have been people willing

to make the investment and pay it forward so that we could no that next year would be the biggest conference ever. this year is the biggest conference we have ever had. [applause] >> like dorothy -- like d'arcy said, that is entirely because of people like you paying it forward. take a look at the community of around you. now take a look at people at other tables. there are thousands of you coming to this conference. we have projects like net groups for the troops. who got here because of a scholarship program? please stand up or raise your arms and make a little bit more noise for us.

you guys are amazing. that is really the culture of our community here, that we step up and pay it forward and really invest in our cells. it is because we make that extra effort, we put our time, energy, and money into these efforts, that we can make the big changes that we need to make how many here are excited about wisconsin? [applause] we have real work to do in wisconsin. we need to rely on each other to make that stuff happen. this is something that you guys have really invested in. heat from this conference you can go right to wisconsin. you can put in even more time and effort and resources into how we build up -- that is how we build up our movement, our culture, our community.

>> here is what we need from all of you. we are here today because people hated forward in the years that came before this one. we know we are going to providence, rhode island next year to get together again. are any of you from providence? i want to ask you to make an investment in paying it forward for providence. we want to make sure that we have the kind of conference that the progressive movement deserves when we go to providence, and we want to make sure we can bring people on scholarships to would not otherwise be able to make it, but to enrich this conference in ways that are incredibly important to the future of this country. >> so let me ask you this question. is this conference, the time he's been here, the connections

you may, is this conference were that? i was kind of expecting that maybe would be energetic and enthusiastic about it. let me ask you, is this conference worth it? [cheering] take a look at what is on your table. you will see some envelopes. i am going to have some special .elpers you can see that have their big .ackgs you will see these board members and volunteers coming

around and collecting these checks. i cannot emphasize this enough. we are only here because of your generosity. marcos's writing to you to get your check. >> i am going to count how many checks each of these people get and we are going to determine their status in the ecosystem based by not only the amount but the number of checks to give to them. marcos has a lot at risk here. >> everyone who has taken bag is going to come around to you. we will take that right here the that we are ready to start planning for next year. in order to do that, we have a little check writing music for

you, so we are going to spend a few minutes doing that. on it did that, i want to introduce our ban who is playing out the check writing music. they are releasing a free ep. they are and active ban. i want to introduce them and their music. in the meantime, in the next few minutes, i would like you to take a look at those envelopes, write them out for any amount that you can. thank you, everyone. give yourselves a round of

applause. >> netroots nation, hello. we are our national from new york city. --outer national from new york city. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ [applause]

>> this song we are going to sing for you right now is dedicated to a new generation, some of those of you who have been overseas, fighting, dying, and killing, and to those soldiers who have been speaking out against the injustices. this is called "sir, no, sir." ["taps"] [mid-tempo melody]

>> ♪ ♪ ♪

samlove working for uncle let me know just who i am i love working for uncle sam let's me know just who i am sir, no, sir sir, no, sir sir, no sir ♪

♪ ♪ [applause] >> from the board of directors

from the netroots foundation, jennifer francona. >> that was awesome. hi, everyone. i am so thrilled and honored to kickoff our program tonight. i want to start by sharing a story that is my own journey netroots nation. i first came and i was such an exciting new progressive activists. i gave up mike whereas a journalist at "the new york times -- "the l.a. times." i was excited to work with howard dean. these tools could be a new engine for reinvigorating our

democracy. when i came here, i was so amazed and impressed. the whole political establishment would talk to us. you had every presidential candidate taking questions. you have ever major news outlet wanting to know what we had to say. it was incredible and amazing. at the same time, i thought it was a little bit of a missed opportunity. when i looked around, it was pretty homogenous. there were women and people of color, but there were not that many of them. it was still segregated. the feminism panel, all the women would go to that. there was a diversity panel and the people of color would go to that. i was concerned about that because it seemed like what we wanted to do was something new and different, and that we were in danger of reenforcing the same power structure we were

trying to fight against. so, i spoke out about this as a blogger. it wasn't easy. i got a lot of push back. we also have a good conversation. it was a heart conversation. it was an important conversation. what that meant for me was when reagan took over netroots nation, he asked me and a bunch of others to join him in helping to make this different. so, how do you do that? how do you work on a problem that seems so intractable and in trent? the first step is to admit that you have a problem. that is what raven and the staff really did. they committed themselves not to diversity, but to true inclusion. they really are two different things. too often when we think about

diversity, it is like a box we are checking. it is like, planning this conference, we have the to do list. set up the tables. fix the audio. order lunches. five latinos who will come. it is deeper than that. you cannot just open the door and say, come in. you have to go outside of the door and go to the community, and ask them to come. and bite them. it takes work. [applause] so, that is what we did. the staff to that. there was not reach program that was voluntary that became part of the institution. we raise money that was specific to, you know, making connections with leaders in these communities. the staff would go to conferences that have online activists of color and women and talk to those people come and

ask them to share their work. and so, we also wanted to make sure not only were we bringing people here, we were including them in programming. we needed a criteria on the panel selection to include diverse voices. we made sure the issues these communities were speaking to was reflected in the program. partially, we believe what was said today. we are better off on the united front and as these different groups. how can we do that work if we are not embody in those principles ourselves? when you look around today, it really is so much different than it was four years ago. it is not that there were fewer people that were here before. there is more people. that is what we want. it makes our community stronger. it makes our movement from the. i want to share the story for

two reasons. it is a success story. it is important for us to acknowledge and celebrate that we have made progress in something that is really hard. two, context for this program tonight. when we did not have the inclusion of diverse voices, issues like immigration were not on the top of the list for this community. through the efforts of so many dedicated activists who tried to bridge the divide, we can say that this is an issue we are committed to solving. we are committed as a community to make sure everybody who works in this country has a chance to participate in our society. [applause] so, if -- in that we are able to stand here and honor individuals who have seen the face of fear and hate and risked their lives, risked their lives to make the world better.

it is that energy of being in the presence of that energy that makes us better. really building a truly inclusive movement for progressive change and social justice is an ongoing journey. tonight is another step on that journey. i am really happy to welcome you all. it will be a very inspiring and moving program. thank you. [applause] >> all right. i'm back. all right. as the emcee, i am here to introduce the people who will introduce the freedom from fear awards. i love these awards. it goes to -- they can explain it better than i can. to every citizen that fought,

they stood a post, with or without back up, some of the most here -- courageous stories you will never hear. they asked me to speak about my own immigrant experience. i am from turkey originally. i came over when i was eight. i do not have a birth certificate from the united states. when i run for president, they will have this on tape and they will go crazy, slash i won't run for president. we were talking about what it means to be an american. i want to say two quick things. i have talked about this before. you all remember peter king has been doing his muslim hearings, totally agreed on that. he did one recently again. it goes to the heart of what it means to be an american. do you know what percentage american i am? exactly. i am 100% american.

[applause] i am naturalized. you know what that means? that means i chose this country. that means i believe in this country so much, i said, i want to be a citizen of that country, not come i was born here and it was an accident. i love this place. i came here. if peter king made the mistake of inviting me to his hearings about muslim americans, given that i am of a muslim background, though i am agnostic now, i would have said in the immortal words of george galloway, i don't come as the accused. i come as the accuser. you know who is not an american? someone who doesn't understand that we don't do religious tests in this country.

that is in the constitution, if they ever bothered to read it. peter king is a despicable demagogue. also support for terrorists. he is a supporter of the ira. a judge threw him out of the court room saying he was a collaborator with terrorists. it is one of the most ironic hearings you will hear. about the turkish immigrant experience, the kid grew up in a southeastern village in turkey, near the syrian border, and it was old-school, right? they didn't have electricity in his house. his dad died when he was three months old. they were in debt because they tried to do operations on the dad and it did not work. they have the bills. since he didn't have electricity, this sounds like a cliche, but it is true, they

would have to wake up in the middle of the night and go into farming, ok? he had to study under a light in the street. that is the only lamp he had. somehow, that kid believed that if he worked hard enough, he could make it out, and that he wouldn't have to farm the land for the rest of his life, and one day he would have a family, and even back then, he thought, i will bring my family to america and give them opportunity to do anything they can imagine. he wound up applying for college in turkey, and they said, you are crazy. only the smartest kids with the best education, the rich kids, they're the ones who get into those colleges. you were studying under a lamp in the street. you're not going to make it. for some reason, that kid believe. he really believed he was going to make it. lo and behold, he took the test

and passed. later, he went to graduate school in america, and later, he brought his family to america, and his son would wind up going to wharton business school at columbia law school and would end up having a national television show. that person was my dad. [applause] if they told that kit under the lamp, one day your son will be interviewing presidents and challenging congressmen and senators from the united states of america come and ask him, are you doing your job? are you standing up for the? -- for the people? people would have said, you're crazy. that is the kind of courage and hard work it takes to make it. immigrant know that. immigrants know how hard it is and how hard they had two -- had to work to get there. what was the magic bullet that allowed my dad to make it? a free education.

[applause] if he didn't get a free education, none of this would have been possible. right now, i would literally be picking olives in southeastern turkey if my dad did not get a free education. all we are asking for is that same, fair chance for all of us and all of our kids. [applause] so, i want to bring up the great people who have put this together. they are going to present the freedom from fear awards. they are great people who are going to talk about some really great things in this country. let's give them a hand. [applause] >> thank you.

i feel like, after hearing that, i don't have to say anything. i did prepare to tell you a little bit of my story and the story of the awards. i'm going to do that. i want to take off from something he said. the definition of who is an american affects so many other issues. it cuts to my core. my mother and her family were among the 110,000 americans put into camps by the u.s. government during world war ii solely because of their japanese heritage, an experience that has colored my life and shaped who i am. it made me passionate about supporting people who are excluded from the definition of who is an american, and has brought me to the cause of immigrant rights. today, we honor the people who are on some heroes and heroines in the struggle.

this started with an honor we received in 2009 for creating a collaborative to support immigrant rights and integration. it came with a $10,000 prize and we realized that we had an unusual opportunity to increase it and paid for work. we tapped into the generosity of friends, family, and colleagues to increase the amount and create the freedom from fear of war, so people who take a courageous stand for immigrants and human rights who never expected recognized for what they're doing and whose examples to others bring action and awareness. we received 380 nominations from 42 states and we were so inspired reading them. with the help of a terrific selection committee, we may agree to narrow them down to a group of 16, four of whom you will meet tonight. they represent the diversity and how people are contributing to

humanity and inclusion in america today, like the four trail of dreams students come gabbie, juan, carlos, and felipe, will you please stand up? [applause] woo hoo! it seems like you have met them. they walked from miami to washington, d.c., to dramatize the barriers that undocumented immigrants face, like the police chief who was vilified for speaking out against local law- enforcement federal immigration laws. the african american legislator from mississippi led his city in passing an ordinance to prohibit the racial profiling of immigrants by police. four asian high school students

were both victims and campaigners against violence in the schools, and lesbian and gay, bisexual and transgendered youth steering others to come out of the shadows and claim their whole selves. these are only a handful of the many unbelievable leaders around the country. some of them are unlikely. all of them demonstrate by their actions their love of humanity and remind us that at its heart, this debate about immigration is not only about policy. it is about human beings. [applause] now, i am delighted to turn these mic over to another source of inspiration to me, my dear friend and colleague. [applause] >> thank you. i just have to say i would not

be here without karen. we have been very good colleagues and friends. together we founded the four freedoms fund, but with a lot of other wonderful colleagues and a great staff that the public interest project. we thank them for their work on this. like karen, woo hoo, my parents actually chose come to the united states. there were immigrants from ireland to came with their two little girls about 50 years ago and settled first in pittsburgh, and then in the bronx. like the immigrants of today, our families came to pursue their american dream and experience opportunity and hardship. karen and i represent their dreams, their ambitions, and their legacies. it is their example the spurs us to work to ensure that the dream remains attainable for today's immigrants.

from our work in philanthropy, we know that immigrants renew democracy, and that by upholding their rights, we strengthen human-rights for all americans. [applause] immigrants are here legally or not, they are all at risk each and every day of being separated from their families, and detained without due process, or forced to live in the shadows of our society. today's fight for immigration reform is not just a struggle for immigrant rights and for integration. it is a struggle for the soul of our nation. we ask that all of you join us in working on behalf of immigrants as our wonderful and fearless awardees do each and every day. not all of us can win awards, but we can all commit acts of

courage. in doing so, we will ensure our nation lives up to its promise. now i will turn it back to karen to introduce our first awardee, the immigrant youth justice league. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. i now have the honor of introducing tanya, rico, and raina. woo! [applause] these are three brave people from chicago who joined the immigrant youth the justice league after they campaigned to stop the deportation of one of them. drawing inspiration for marylandlgbtq and immigrant rights movement, they galvanized

students from around the country to declare a themselvesun -- themselves un documented and unafraid. they and the other award winners will receive a $5,000 prize and this beautiful fine arts print designed by a brilliant artist and activist. [applause] you can see it up close outside of this main hall at her? . i now want to give it to these three with our deepest thanks and respect. [applause] >> i am undocumented. my name is rico. >> might raina and i am

undocumented and queer. >> thank you. i want to tell you about why it is so crucial for us to say out loud the word "undocumented" and "queer." harvey milk said, you must come out for your parents. i know that it is hard and it will hurt them. think about how they will help you in the voting booth. come out for your friends and your neighbors. here i am today, coming out to all of you, with all of my friends behind me. my coming out is about being an undocumented immigrant. i live in chicago since i was 10 years old. it is where i grew up, learned about community, french, and where i have learned what freedom and in justice feels like, and the lengths to which people of gone to defend them.

i have learnt to organize and to tweet. i love this country and i consider it my home, but it is hard to live in a country where you are called a criminal, and to know that i don't have the same rights as my peers, to live in a place where i have to live in fear under constant threat of deportation, and where i have seen my friends and family disappear for the same reasons. when i was 17 years old, i was advised to go to mexico to get an international student visa. i took it, feeling i would not just let my status or laws to stop my plans for an education. while i was there, i learned that every year, 65,000 undocumented immigrants graduate from a u.s. high school, like i had. i felt like i was not alone in my experiences were valid.

my frustrations reflected inequalities that needed to be addressed because i was not the only one facing them. i was able to come back. i was able to experience what it meant to speak about my own experiences. i began to understand that every time i told my story, it was one of those stories that needed to be set out loud. when i came back, i was on my way to testify in front of the senate as i watched two planes crashed in new york city. the government's response was to turn everything around immigration into a conversation of national security and terrorism. i decided to dedicate more quietly, go to school, and try to live my life. i went to college. that is the time when i started liking girls. i had to go through the experience of coming out to my family, who was not happy about it. this experience led me to

understand what it meant to be able to come out as undocumented and be able to have our own lives and control our own stores. i want to say thank you to our parents, who we saw, i am sorry, i am nervous, when we began coming out -- [applause] thank you. we began coming out in meetings and it felt really good. we wanted to be able to share that feeling with others, to be able to have control over our own stories and to be able to know -- to use the strategies of past movements. we were inspired and we ask other people to come out of the shadows and declare themselves undocumented. we co-founded the immigrant youth justice leak. we organized the first national coming out. undocumented young people have made that message their own. we have heard of people who have

come out to their friends, and we know the power that has to change minds. we have also been part of an organized -- and participated in civil disobedience as. all of this has been part of trying to live our lives, coming out and living our lives as documented and unafraid. to our parents, the first people who we saw, we are part of you. thank you for bringing us to the united states. to those undocumented youth who despite tangible risk, take actions that move us forward. to our friends at the immigrant

youth allowance, and to you who are listening to my story, i ask you to stand with us, to help us create sex basis for yana undocumented people, whether that means interclass room, i being inclusive in your community and your state and our country. we are all human beings and we deserve to be happy, and i ask you to help us create that country. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> i have a great honor and privilege of introducing some one of whom i am a big fan. this is somebody who made me

both want to be a super model and made me seriously consider kissing a girl. ladies and gentlemen, i would like to introduce one of the -- >> they asked me to write a song for this day and this is what i came up with. i am a little nervous, but here goes. ♪ they say we want our america back when they say they want our america back, what the fuck do they mean ♪

♪ before eve hung out with that snake? you could walk down the street not worrying about the best like those germans in 1790 and the irish survived the potato blight the neighborhood started changing. life has paler shade of white when they say we want our america back we want our america back ♪

♪ before there was ellis island and that statue we got from the french inviting them into our bed the days and the terrorists and who let in that woman who looks after my kids and the one who is cleaning my mess live was righteous, life was cleaned send them back, including me when they say we want our america back what the fuck does it mean ♪

before the gays at the agenda before the slaves were free before that man from kenya we want our america back our america back, our america back when they say we want our america back what the fuck does that mean ♪ [cheers and applause]

>> i did not expect that. thank you. saree for cussing s --orry for cussing. here is a song that i wrote a while ago, and i will just play it. ♪ if i had a jet pack, the first thing that i would do is fly across the gridlock and come to you i would begin to the windows on fifth avenue to see how the other side lives

and if i had a jet pack, i would strap it on. i would get out of this one room and i would be gone to where there are houses with big front yards if i had a jet pack, i would take you up with me ♪ at last we both be free past the statue of liberty in my jet pack if i had a jet pack, i would like above the bridge i would wait to all my friends who thought i would never rise again i'd fly above the stadium to

watch my team whein if i had a jet pack, i would bust into your store underneath the moonlight you would want me even more because i'd have a jet pack i'd take you up so high if i drop to you would die but i want you by my side in mind jet pack ♪ i don't have a jet pack i don't even have a car i just have a head full of stars

i don't have pack ♪on't have a jet [applause] >> thank you, i am so honored to be here and i want to bring on my new favre band, but -- my new favorite band, outernational. >> we are going to sing our favorite woody guthrie song to you folks this evening. last year they passed a law called sb-70 in arizona. this is a song that woody

guthrie wrote in 1948. ♪ ♪ ♪ they are flying you back to the mexican border ♪

♪ ♪ ♪

♪ you won't have a name when you ride the big airplane all they will call you is deportees ♪ ♪

♪ [applause] >> some woody guthrie rock-and- roll. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome arizona state senator

kirsten cinema. >> good evening. join me in giving another round of applause to outernational. just a reminder for all of you who are enjoying the music this evening, you can purchase cds and t-shirts here in the area of the doorway to the hall. you can also get posters of tonight's historic awards ceremony on your way out of the building. make sure you check that out on your way out this evening. it is my incredible honor and privilege to be a member of the committee that helped select this evening's freedom from fear awardees and an even greater privilege to be able to present one of this evening's awards to someone i consider personal friend and hero.

i hailed from phoenix, arizona. i was born and raised in arizona. while all of you know my state because of sb-1070, it was not always like that. for years, arizona has been an independent, feisty state. only in recent years have the powers of extremism (the voice of reason in our state to pass bills like sb-1070. while many here only about the voice of extremism and rigid ideology and anti-immigrant rhetoric, it often do not hear about the profiles of courage of individuals who staked their reputation, their career, and sometimes even risking their livelihood in order to stand up for what is right in the face of overpowering strength and even hatred. one of tonight's awardees is former chief of police jack

harris. jack harris is almost an arizona native. his family moved to phoenix when he was just two years old. after growing up in the great metropolis of phoenix, jack harris started a 39-year career in public service. for the last seven years he served as the chief of police for the city of phoenix, the fifth largest city in the country. during that time, jack harris presided over an unprecedented reduction in crime and increase safety in our community. unfortunately, in the last five to seven years, he also presided over the police team during a time of unprecedented pressure from elected officials and extremists to crack down on innocent, law-abiding individuals in this city of phoenix. long before the passage of sb- 1070, public pressure was

growing by ideological extremist at the arizona state legislature to force officers to engage in racial profiling and to endanger the safety and the trust of its citizens. chief harris led the effort in fighting back against those pressures, refusing to engage in racial profiling, and staying committed to committed -- community policing. where officers had in formal and informal relationships with individuals in those communities, to keep those communities safe and healthy. with the passage of sb-1070, arizona solidified its position as ground zero in the national struggle for immigration reform. very few people in arizona had the courage or the will to stand up against it. police chief jack harris is one of those who stood strong, early, and consistent set -- consistently against this

misguided policy that does nothing to keep our committee state and injects words, makes it more difficult for individuals to report either instances of criminal activity or individuals who are victims are witnesses of crimes to cooperate with police. chief jack harris was a stalwart and strong voice against the passage sb-1070, and for this, many elected an unelected officials and the state of arizona sought to endanger his position and his livelihood. this summer, chief harris retired, after 39 years of public service in arizona and seven years as the chief of police in phoenix. while he has retired, his legacy will continue to live on as a strong, brave, and unafraid voice in the face of extremist ideology. he continues to stand strong for the right of individuals in our

state to live safely and peacefully, free from harassment because of immigration ideology. please join me in welcoming and banking chief jack harris. -- and thanking chief jack harris. [applause] >> good evening. thank you for those very kind words . i very much appreciated. a wise man once said, it is not hard to do the right thing. it is hard to know what the right thing is. once you know what the right thing is, it is hard not to do it. four police officers, the right thing is -- has always been to make our communities safe.

community safety and helping people should be law-enforcement number one priority. community safety is in part accomplished by putting those who prey on victims in jail. as the former police chief of the fifth largest city and our country, i directed my 3500 police officers to go after murderers, rapists, and thieves. i also asked them to help people, and ultimately to make our communities safe. recently in this country, it has become politically popular to blame immigrants for all of the ills that people perceive to be happening in our country and to attempt to force local law

enforcement officers to divert their precious resources away from traditional crime-fighting strategies and concentrate instead on routine immigration enforcement. individual state legislatures are attempting to do this by passing laws like arizona's 1070. i refuse to to do it. [applause] simply because it was not the right thing to do. over the last several years, phoenix police officers arrested on average over 46,000 people a year that commit serious crimes. it is not prudent to divert those officers away from

protecting their communities to chase immigrants back and forth across the border. the answer to the emigration issue lies in washington d.c., in the form of national immigration reform. i believe congress will resolve the emigration issue at some points, but until then, i told my officers to treat people fairly and humanely. in the end, the issue will be resolved, but people will always remember, above all else, how they were treated by you. martin luther king said, "the ultimate measure of the man is not where he stands in moments

of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." i am honored tonight to stand here with my fellow recipients, who i believe in all of their efforts have lived up to dr. king's words. thank you. [applause] >> let's welcome the congressman. >> thank you very much. it is an honor to present one of these acknowledgment and awards. before i do that, i want to take the time for many of you to

thank you. this last time around, my campaign needed help, and with this last election, we needed it badly. we received it from any of you, and i want to thank you and extend to you my sincere appreciation. i don't know if we learned any lessons, but we did learn that having a progressive message is not necessarily the death knell for politicians, and we should not be afraid to take positions, be up front, and draw the line on occasion. this has been a great conference, as it was last year. i learned a lot, met a lot of good people, and want to extend to all the organizers and all of you my congratulations for it. a lot has been said throughout

the last two or three months about what we are up against, wheat being anybody who thinks the country is going to hell in a handbasket. there are plenty of us in the country, not just us. what are we up against? corporate money, all those things. let me tell you, we are in a great position to motivate, organized, and energize the american public, and you are a critical part of that process. we are not in bad shape, we are in great shape. we should be optimistic and we should be really ready for a really good fight, a fight that not only we can win, but we are going to win. so thank you for that. you know, immigration is a touchstone issue, and i am glad for the theme today. an issue that touches on what is american, what our traditions are, our values, our rule of law.

in doing so, immigration has been used as a very ugly, divisive wedge issue by the extremists, the extreme right in this country, to make people afraid of, to use it as a motivator, to try to win their elections, and in some cases, winning those elections. but immigration is not an issue to run away from. it is a complex, delicate, but you cannot ignore it. it is part and parcel of how we are evolving in this country. i want to take time today, and coming from a state that is unabashedly ahead of its time, arizona, i want to take the time to acknowledge the next recipient. councilman, jackson mississippi.

following his recommendation, that council voted 6 to 1 to approve an immigration ordinance to discourage racial profiling. [applause] the measure was proposed by the congressman to prevent law enforcement from asking to see someone's proof of citizenship, based on his or her race. the councilman said that his action was based on the draconian emigration law in my home state of arizona, and it was the inspiration behind his ordnance. all the federal government's and to some extent this administration shies away from and is afraid to deal with this issue, while other people use this issue to exploit the political and vantage, while other people use this issue to

marginalized people, it is so good to see a local elected official with the foresight and courage to say no, we are much different than that, and we are much better than that. this award is about political courage in the face of, and about being a head, because now the nation is catching up to jackson, mississippi, and questioning communities and questioning mass deportation, and questioning why we cannot have something intelligent and rational to reform our immigration law, and we are going to do that. we are going to do it because local communities like the councilman represents are ahead of the rest of us. they are promoting an american

ideal about inclusion, about integration, and about face in our american system to say for many, there is one. with that, let me on this occasion recognize the great work being done to make our country a more united nation, a country reflective of its history and reflective of its diversity, and the freedom from fear award to this gentleman is not only deserved, but says a lot about where this nation is and what it can be. with that, let me introduce the freedom from fear award winner, the councilman from jackson, mississippi. [applause]

[cheers and applause] >> good evening. on may 19, 2009, which happens to be the work day of malcolm x, i was elected to the city council of jackson, mississippi. jackson, mississippi is a city which is predominantly black in a county which is predominantly black, in a state which has a very infamous racial history. i was elected to the council

seat, and immediately upon being elected, it became apparent to many of us, myself included, that there was a growing hatred and animosity toward immigrant brothers and sisters who were coming into jackson and who were coming into the state. the tea party ideas were growing. as they were beginning to contemplate the passage of very bad legislation, which would victimize immigrant people, we understood that the history of immigrants and the history of black people and the history of oppressed white people were tied together in this country. [applause]

we understood, just like we understood our history, that immigrant people largely were coming to an crossing borders to the united states of america because in their own countries, companies and corporations were taking over their economy, paying them pennies for hours worth of work, and then as they would come across the border looking for work, they would find ice raids or government raids, the tension, other forms of credit conditions and pay below minimum wage. we also understood that these were our brothers and our sisters and our allies. so what we set out to do was to move quicker than the opposition.

to take the anti-profiling ordinance which would stop discrimination against immigrants and take it before a predominantly black city council of jackson, mississippi, before the predominantly racist legislator of the state of mississippi could get to the immigrants. [applause] we took it before the city council commack and as little babies and children appear before that city council and talked about how the attacks on their mothers and fathers had cost of them fear and cause them hunker and how they -- caused them honker and how they wanted and were afraid. we saw them city council members shed some tears and they overwhelmingly supported the

anti-racial profiling ordinance. [applause] of course, the state of mississippi tried to strike back. they began to plan to pass many forms of legislation which were worse even than the arizona legislation. but we did not quit. we showed up in the chambers of the legislature and outside on the steps, and we began to remind people that we are approaching the 50th anniversary of the freedom riders who had come to free the state of mississippi, and that we were approaching the anniversary of many significant mississippi martyrs like emmitt till and medgar evers and others. and that we could not stand by as people were planning to visit

these harms of other people like that had once visited on us. [applause] and the voices, both black voices and white voices of resistance, were raised in the state legislature of mississippi, and they outmaneuvered the opposition, so in 2011, we were able to defeat all of the arizona type legislation in this date of mississippi. -- in the state of mississippi. [applause] but the struggle continues, right? because not only is there 2011, there is 2012, and years since then, but some things we do know, that people's movement

does work, and as we combine people in coalitions in order to fight against injustice, it does work. as we pass on the legacy to stand for justice and not to surrender to to fear to our children that it will work. so we plan to do all of this. in a closing comment, i want to say that i want to accept this award, this wonderful ward, on behalf of all those allies who worked in mississippi in order to prevent these ordinances and present this legislation like arizonas from being passed. [applause] i also want to accept it on behalf of my family. i have to tell you about my grandmother. my grandmother had 15 children.

her mother was a cherokee. her daddy was a descendant from nigeria. her 15 children were an interesting 15 children, because she first married a very, very dark skinned brother. those of us in the black community will know what i mean when they say they used to call him blue period of very dark skinned brother. she had her first five or six children by that man, and when he died, she married my grandfather, who was not only black, he was also irish. so she had a constellation of children that looked like the rainbow, from the very darkest to the very brightest. in fact, sometimes when my aunts would go out, both in

alabama and then detroit, michigan, been arrested for a black man being with a white woman. but she taught us, we cannot tolerate racial injustice. we cannot tolerate discrimination between colors. she made me the type of person that would step into the fight in mississippi in 2009 and 2010. and it just as some refused to change, we do have the right kind of training and conditioning and understanding will refuse to say no to justice. we must stand to justice and never surrendered to fear. that great brother, martin jr. also said this. he said that injustice anywhere

is a threat to justice everywhere. and so understanding that we are all part of the same family, we will win in mississippi, as we woolwich and everywhere else, globe, where immigrants or any other people are being abused. thank you very much. [cheers and applause] >> i am back we are doing two things here, one is to talk about volunteers. i know about volunteers, because that is how we built the young turks, when the mainstream media did not believe our listeners and viewers believed, and they

would chip in. we literally could not have done the show without them. let me help in building the website, let me help in this way or that way. that made the young turks happen, and now we are about to hit a half billion views on line. that is a small intro to the volunteers here at netroots nation. again, we literally could not have done this without them. we don't have the big corporate money. we have people power. i want you guys to help me in thanking all the great, great volunteers here at netroots nation. [cheers and applause] that is what we have, people

power. as i was saying before, we need people to stand opposed, and they stood opposed. i want to introduce someone else who has done likewise. i have talked to him for a long time, well before i was on msnbc. she believed and we believed, and at the time, at conventions like this we would taught, and she was thinking of running for congress. at the time they told her as an established democrat, we already have that seat in your district. we will do the right thing, and they never did. she said i am going to go ahead and make a run for it because we need to fight for progressive values. that is the kind of democrat that i love. at the time we were a small show and no one believed in that, either. we decided we are going to believe, and ask the people

around us to believe we thought, and now donna edwards is our congressman from maryland's fourth district. i told in the beginning that there are some good guys in congress, and she is definitely one of the good guys. it is a great pleasure to introduce our real progressive who fights for progressive values in the united states congress, donna edwards. [applause] >> i came to the united states three years ago from china. i did not know what to expect, but i found out very soon that my high school in south philadelphia was one of the most violent schools in the city. one by one, all my friends were getting beaten up. many of them dropped out soon after.

in the lunchroom, asian students got foodborne on them every day. the cafeteria manager made fun of our accent's when we ordered food. i did not go to the lunch room for two years. we were beaten in hallways and bathrooms. i heard racial slurs all the time, and we told administrators at the school. sometimes they laughed at us or told us to speak english. sometimes they yelled at us as if it were our fault, or shrugged their shoulders and walk away. in october 2008, five of my chinese friends were beaten by 30 other students. but instead of protecting them and trying to understand what was happening, the school suspended the chinese victims for fighting. it was enough. i knew i could not be silent anymore and let this happen again and again to me or my classmates. from that day on, i began to

organize students to stand up for ourselves. we began to document what was happening to us. we reached out to community leaders and other adults for help. on december 3, 2009, 30 asian immigrant students got beat up inside and outside school during a whole school day. 13 asian kids had to go to the emergency room. the principal and district leaders denied that anything had happened at school and said no one was hurt. our principal told the staff that we had an asian agenda. i knew martin luther king had led boycotts, so i convinced 50 of my classmates to stage a boycott. our parents were very against it. we 50 students met every day, shared our stories, and made a list of our demands.

the boycott lasted for eight days and got national media attention. we filed a complaint with the department of justice, and they agreed that our civil rights had been violated. [applause] the principal resigned and we got a much better one. over the past two years, i have learned a lot about what racial justice means, and that immigrant youth can take leadership. we felt like the school was failing both the asian students and the african-american students who were attacking us. we did not want them to start a life in jail, so we focused our demands on the school's responsibility. we wanted to make a school that would work for all the students. today, self philadelphia high school is a much safer and better schools because of our work. we are working now in a citywide campaign for nonviolent schools.

please join me in celebrating and welcoming and challenging our civil rights, the freedom from fear award winners tonight. they are 17 years old and 19 years old. they are fearless, from south philadelphia high school. [applause] >> we are both from the asian student association from philadelphia. we know there are many high schools with the same issues and the same struggles like us, in a

different place. our members came from different backgrounds and different languages. with issues such as the language barrier, we realize we must work together to fight for our rights. it can result in teacher layoffs and cutting of the bilingual staff. there is a network for use organizations and community organizations working together to address this issue.

as part of this campaign, we are working with other youth organizations to fight for our rights. we believe that the young people deserve to be in schools, not in prisons. [applause] in the future, we will continue to work with immigrant youth, to empower the youth to become the leaders of their communities. we have the power to make the change, the power to help the people and not to hurt people. if we use the power to hurt people, one day we will lose the power. thank you. [applause]

>> how are you guys doing? let me hear from you. make some noise, netroots nation. welcome to minneapolis. welcome to the city where it hubert h. humphrey in 1947 told the democratic convention that we have to leave the dark night of segregation and walk into the bright light of integration. strom thurmond did not appreciate that none too much

and they walked out and created the dixiecrats. he did not care, and that is the city that i come from. this is where paul wellstone said, we all do better when we all do better. that is what he said right here in this town. welcome to minneapolis. i want you to know that i feel so inspired by you. i am just so impressed with what you are doing. this is the best, largest, most butt-kicking gathering of wired progressives in america. i am telling you right now. i am sure you have not heard anything about this, but they have some sorry little gathering over there at the hilton. it is that they, really, and quite unfortunate. but we are on fire all around

here. the fact is, the reason i am so honored to be able to address you for just a few minutes is because you all have the capacity to do what very few people in america can do. you can go around the corporate media. you can get a message to the american people. you can send a message in a bottle to the american people that does not count on whether or abc or cbs or nbc or cnn or fox likes it or not. you can just go writer around and tell them -- go right around and tell them, there is something i want you to ask them, i want you to tell the american people that every body counts, and everybody matters. i want you to tell the american people that we are one america, and it says "and liberty and justice paul."

for all." it is liberty and justice for all, for the muslims, christians, the jews, the hindus, people who do not go in for religion at all. it is freedom and justice for all of us. it is liberty and justice for all. we have to be fierce in defense of this idea of one america. we have to be fierce in defense of this idea, because this country went through a bloody civil war to fight for the simple idea that no person should be able to own another one. this country went through a momentous women's rights movement that says more than one-half of all humanity deserves respect and equality and to control their own life and their own destiny.

this country went through labor movement. they used to say it was the restraint of trade and a labor union should have no rights. we won the right to organize on the job, and a union is a good thing. the right to organize, and basic human rights. we need you to tell the american people this, because there are some guys who want to control the message. they do not like the internet because they cannot control the message. they want to get us arguing among each other. liberty and justice for all is fine, but not so much those muslim people. not so much those gay people. not so much those labor union people.

not so much those liberal, trade union people. not so much those people who want an america where all are included, where all or embraced and respected for who they are. you and i have to say no. the message is going to get through to the american people that we are not going to let this divide us or break us apart. we are not afraid of those fictitious sharia laws that they want to invent. it is nonsense. nobody is asking for this, but they have created this straw man because they want to create your between me and you. that is what it is all about. i am telling you, once they pick out one, they are going to pick out another one. so we have to hang together, folks. each one of us has got to be a soldier and say liberty and

justice for all. that is right. if your whole political philosophy is the elevation of greed to an ideology, that only serves 1% or less of the american people, then how are you going to get 50% of the american people to vote for that program? first you have to suppress the vote. you have to tell them they need estate issued identification card even to vote, even though the constitution says nothing of the sort. you have to make them scared of each other, suspicious of each other. you have to make them not want to hang together, to get some of them to think they are more moral than others. while you have no paycheck and your houses foreclosed and you

have no health care, your thinking or better than somebody else. we have to be fierce in our defense of liberty and justice for all. i am asking you to first, break the fear. we have to have freedom from fear. we have to have freedom from fear. i am telling you, in egypt, everybody just knew, they just knew that you could not stand up against mubarak, he was just too strong. there is nothing we can do. we just have to take it. but somebody said you know what? i am just going to try something. you know who tried something? folks who are in the netroots nation in egypt. et.started with a tweake it started with twitter.

it is of a coincidence. you guys are the key to changing the whole narrative. it is making people feel courageous and connected so that we can claim our own destiny. i am telling you right now, and america today, the biggest problem is the american dream is slipping out of our fingers. the simple notion that anybody of any color, any race, a background, can be able to go to a job and earn a decent pay, that they can raise a family on and have a decent retirement, and maybe even go to the doctor if they are sick -- if this is an idea that is growing less and less possible for the average american, this is an idea that has to be fought for. back during the civil rights movement, the african-americans who were out there protesting used to have allies.

in the women's rights movement, there were men who cared about equality, and they were allies. those of us who are straight, are gay friends call us allies. in this fight for the middle class, there are no allies. we are all in this. this is all our business. whether you are a student who does not want to go to college for four years and then pay for it for 40 years, or whether you are a senior and they have these guys over here literally talking about cutting medicare, or whether you are a new american and you have to listen to these politicians act like every problem in america is your fault, there are no allies. we are all in this, and we have to find that solidarity and fiercely defended. it is within our hands. we can do this. we have done it before.

the netroots nation will lead the way. you will lead the way because you have been leading the way. the people in this room, people who feel like you feel, you have been at it for a long time. i am not going to go back to the civil rights movement or the women's movement. i am going to go back to the year 2000. in the year 2000, many of us thought, we got involved, and we got engaged. and yet in florida, we saw direct and clear racial discrimination which ended up stealing an election and the presidency. back before twitter, we used to think tweets were something that little birds did. we had fax machines. we used technology to get the word out to talk about hell in

florida, they used a scrub list " -- house in florida, they deny people the vote in that state. people got riled up about it. then 9/11 came, that horrible tragedy, and yet we saw very quickly, the goodwill we had gotten from the world because of the suffering we endured. american squandered it with things like the patriot act and guantanamo bay. with iraq, we were out there and marching. who participated in an anti-war match in iraq? who got up here and stood up and put their feet in the street and said we have to get out now? this movement, this anti-war movement, this worker movement, this was the movement we could feel. we began to employ it. we began to employ technology.

blocking became something we used to communicate. -- blogging became something we used to communicate. our brothers and sisters fighting for immigration justice began to organize. they had a slogan they used to use, "si se puede." say it. others of us took a cue from our brothers and sisters fighting for emigration rights. we put it in english because that is the language we understand. we started saying what? "yes we can." where saying in the streets. we were saying it at barbershops and beauty shops. we were organizing with this strategy. we got out there and began to march. and then a talented, brilliant, inspiring state senator from illinois joined that movement that already was going on. he got inspiration from that

movement. he got jazz from that movement. he thought about the opportunity to deliver leadership to that movement. he became the most tech savvy candidates. he gave this amazing speech in boston which inspired us. i was there. i had tears in my eyes and was standing on my feet. i never thought he started the movement or owned the movement. i never thought the movement was his, that he should guide it. he should have input into it. but i know the movement existed before. the movement set up leaders. the leaders did not call the leaders into existence. we got out there in the campaign and said yes we can, yes we can. we used music and art and twitter and text. we used all these things to get the people behind nothing short of the democracy movement, all built around the idea that in america anybody can be

president. everybody can be president. it does not matter, color. it does not matter, your background. it does not matter if you came from a single mom and did not grow up with a dead in your household. it did not matter if you had a passion to serve. you would serve. based on this freedom agenda, we got him into office. and we were so happy. but after we were saying yes we can, we kind of started saying yes he can. we kind of said yes you can. go out there and solve our problems. i am telling you that when we can walk with the president we should walk with him. when we can't, we have to walk ahead of him. the movement has to inspire politicians. [applause] the movement must inspire politicians. martin luther king never, never called on johnson and said, "i

am thinking about having a march against segregation. what do you think, linden? i am thinking about getting active, giving back. martin luther king was out there in 1955. only a few years before, humphrey was out there. he was out there knocking on doors. he was organizing. young people were sitting there, black and white, getting ketchup and cigarettes and coffee burned out on them. what happened? politicians had to do what the movement demanded they do. even after we got a bad precedent in richard nixon, he had to bow to the wave that was progressing in health care and civil rights legislation, even though he did not want to do it. not with that progressive president and an ally of progressive movement that understands we have to make a moral call have a moral beacon

that will guide us based on principles, not personality. what will we do when the president wants to do the things we want to do? we need to liberate our president. we need to free him. we need to make it easy for him to do what he wants to do. let me tell you -- the dream act needs to be the law. comprehensive immigration reform needs to be the law. in america, every good american workers should have a good american jobs with benefits and good wages. in america, the unemployment rate should never be 9%. it should be 1% or 2%. full employment for the american people. that is what we need to have. [applause] but the key to it is us hanging together and following the authentic, jest up, and passionate leadership of the netroots nation, which wants

america to fulfill a dream that is a little more than liberty and justice for all. [applause] go back out across america. banks -- me and my partners are going out, talking about economic justice. we are here in minneapolis today. thank you for coming. was it a good one? we are going to milwaukee. we are going to houston. we are going to boston. we are going to your town. do not speak out just to speak out. speak out in the barbershop and the hare shop. go to republican town hall forums and speak out there. we are not like them. we are not going to be uncivil like they do. but it is your right to ask the tough questions. why don't you want america to

have the best high-speed rail in the world? why don't you want every community wired up so people can communicate no matter where they live? why don't you believe all americans should be one? why are you trying to divide us. inspire america again and drag these politicians to do the right thing. if they will not, do it yourself. i love you so much. you are the best. peace. [applause] >> next, we will hear from political commentators fund and breitbart. a hearing from the u.s. senate on the state of the livestock industry.

>> monday on c-span, the dollar llama and vincent hardy, martin luther king's speech writer, talked-about non-violence at the university of arkansas, discussing osama bin laden's death, the nuremberg trials, the execution of saddam hussein, and the death penalty. >> in the 20th century, the number of people who were killed through the violence is over 200 million. that problem is not solved. i think that kind of action and also exploitation, i think, laid down the seed of hatred between the arabs and here. >> watch this discussion monday at 6:30 p.m. eastern on c-span.

monday night, a look back at president nixon's foreign policy. members of his administration and his son-in-law discuss topics including communism in china, invading north vietnam, in the 1967 war in the middle east. >> the discussion in the newspapers was nixon's secret plan for peace. what was it? he never talked about it. that was rockefeller pushing nixon to say something to expose what the plan was. i happened to be in the library, waiting for pressure to change her clothes. we were going out. he comes in after a hard day of campaigning. he is relaxing. i am asking. what is your plan? i am going to go to taking. i am going to go to moscow.

that is how we were going to bring about peace in viet nam and the world. >> watch this discussion from the u.s. navy moral -- memorial in washington, d.c. at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> the americans for prosperity held its annual conference in minneapolis. speakers included john fund on the legacy of ronald reagan and andrew brietbart on the wiener scandal and the transformation of his ideologies. >> and now ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the president of americans for prosperity foundation. ladies and gentlemen, tim phillips. ♪ ["beautiful day," u2] ♪

["beautiful day," u2] >> thank you. thank you. welcome. welcome to americans for fourthrity foundation's annual right online conference. years ago, the staff came to our leadership and said, "candidly, the left is killing us on line. they are beating us. we have a solution. we are going to start conferences across the country. we are going to start training literally tens of thousands of grass-roots activists to go up and become better online insurgents using social media and social networking." americans for prosperity foundation write online was going. we do not just hold conferences

quietly. we decided to go where the left was. we found out where netroots nation was and decided to go to the same city, weekend, if we can, the same hotel. so welcome to the revolution. three years ago, it was austin, texas. we have a bunch of good texans here tonight, i know. two years ago, it was pittsburg. as a dallas cowboys fan, that was a very tough year in pittsburgh. last year was las vegas, nevada. this year, it is minneapolis, minnesota. [applause] end these conferences are working. three years ago at our first right online conference in austin, texas, a young lady was there named melissa. she went out and learn about blogging. she is here tonight.

three years later, she is not just one of the biggest blunders on the conservative side in texas. she is one of the biggest conservative bloggers on the planet. she is here tonight. thank you for all your doing. two years ago, eric came to me and said, "we are going to have a training session at the pittsburgh conference called facebook 101." i said that is a stupid idea and no one is good to come to that. he did it anyway. we have a brick that section. i walk been expecting to go, "i told you. we will work through this together." over 150 activists were in the room. they had spilled out into the hallway. earlier in the day, i had met this little lady. she was about 5 feet tall, 82 years old. she said, "i am going to learn to become a better facebook activist." she was two seats to my right,

furiously taking notes the entire brick that section -- session, scribbling notes and working on it. i thought nothing was going to come of that. a week later, i get a friend request from this little lady. [laughter] she already had 500 facebook friends. [applause] she probably runs pennsylvania at this point for all i know, with that kind of passion. but these conferences are working. tomorrow morning, netroots nation will kick off their conference with minnesota is on al franken. [booing] you know it is a tough time to be a liberal when you have to go with al franken on a saturday morning. so in the morning when you roll out of bed and come back to hear, we're going to kick off with another minnesota member of congress, a lady named michele bachman. [applause]

i thought we won that one. i did. later tonight after dinner, you are going to hear from a quiet, shy, unassuming guy. he is every liberals nightmare, the guy who broke the andrew weaner scandal. he is andrew breotba -- bre itbart. john fund, the smart as writer in the country, is here tonight. the governor is here. said michele bachman is gonna be talking tomorrow. i want to thank all of the sponsors of right online. they are allies in the movement across this great country. we are a free-market organization at americans for prosperity. we want to give you incentives

to go out and patronize these great sponsors. our team came up with something called "exhibit booth window." here is how it works. throughout tomorrow, if you simply go to 10 of the exhibit booths, 10 -- am i getting this right? 10 of the exhibit booths. they will give you a bingo card. after you look around, they will stamp it. when you get 10 of those, you go into a drawing for either a free ipad or an all expenses paid trip to our defending the american dream summit in washington, d.c. this november. [applause] take a look at that. we also have a really exciting new partnership at the americans for prosperity foundation with our good friends at the leadership institute. the president is here tonight. thank you for all you are doing. it is a partnership. you are going to be seeing a lot more about that. we are doing a lot more training

of conservative and free-market activists in coming years. you can be part of that as well. anyone hear from the great state of wisconsin? [applause] right over here. you guys have had such a quiet year, haven't you? i knew it was you because a couple of you were chaining yourselves with by clocks to the table tonight. that is the -- bike locks to the table tonight. that is the other side. i'm sorry. they have a governor we admire and americans for prosperity. his name is tom walker. [applause] i thought so. our sister organization, americans for prosperity, our organization's sister is hosting a phone centers throughout tomorrow. i would urge you, if you care about what is going on in wisconsin and want to help educate some of the good folks

in that state about what is happening there this summer, and you know what is going on this summer from the left -- it is right across the hall. all day tomorrow, you can log in. it is easy to do. you can make some phone calls to the good folks in wisconsin and educate them on what is going on. tell them what is at stake. would some of you do that tomorrow? would you go to that phone center tomorrow? it is a big deal. i hope you will. tonight, we gather for a summit dedicated to taking our nation in a different direction. we have seen the direction of the policies of president obama. when it comes to deficits and debt, this president and his policies are the biggest failure in america's history. [applause] and we know that. and i do not know if you know this or not, but it is the one- year anniversary of something that i am sure has changed every life in this room.

think back for just a moment to june 17, 2010. what do you think happened a year ago today? it has changed all of your lives. it has changed the entire country. the summer of recovery. that is right. president obama, vice president joe biden -- they went out this day one year ago and announced it was a summer of recovery. how is the recovery working out for you? [booing] ask al franken? i thought so. this is a tough time to be a liberal. you know it is tough when they spend all that money from the stimulus. they pronounced it a summer of recovery. today, unemployment stands at 9.1%. that is the message we want to make sure everyone -- every american knows. their policies, their regulations, their big spending,

their taxation, their health care, is taking us further away from recovery. so happy first-year anniversary. i want to wrap up with this. the two questions i get on the road the most are, "are we making a difference with all of our grassroots activities?" no. 2, "are we winning?" i want to answer the first question by asking you for a moment to go back to january 2009. think about where we stood as a movement in january 2009. the president was enjoying one of the best political honeymoons in modern american history. then, senate leader harry reid had 60 votes in the senate on the democrat side. and truth be known about half a dozen squishy republicans. then-speaker at nancy pelosi, and isn't it nice to say then- speaker nancy pelosi? i thought so.

she had a 50 plus seat majority in the house. they pronounced three domestic priorities they were going to slam through. you probably remember. they were a done deal, according to the mainstream media and all the opinion leaders. one was cap and trade, the energy tax of all time in the united states. that was a done deal, al gore's fondest dream. where is al gore? he has disappeared. we may need him back for hot air. secondly, taking away the right to the secret ballot from american workers when they decided whether or not to join a union. that was big labor's payoff. third was the health-care takeover. that was a done deal. it is easy to think differently, but go back to january 2009. today, i want you to think about those three. this is a technical term i learned at virginia tech, so bear with me. but cap and trade today is better than a doornail.

-- deader than a doornail. it is done. did al gore suddenly say he was just kidding about that? you know what happened to cap and trade? you happen to cap and trade. this grass-roots ruble rose up and kill the legislation. payoff,ck, big labor's it has not even come up for a vote. it is on the ash heap of history in this country because of you. [applause] and health care -- there is no way around it. we have some victories. we stopped the public option, but it was a defeat most bitter, was it not? we lost that one. in defeat, you worked so hard at educating your fellow americans that in the and that catapulted our movement to ascendancy in this country in november 2010. even in defeat, that ended up

being a victory. you are the reason for those results. if you wonder whether we are making a difference, we are. if you wonder whether we are winning, we are. it is one thing to say no and to stop bad things from happening. but now we have to go out and train and work and fight and educate our fellow citizens to push forward good things, to push forward good ideas. that is going to be a challenge for us, but i know we are going to do it. thank you all for being here tonight. thank you for joining us for this conference. just know we are winning. thank you all very much. [applause] ["beautiful day" u2] >> please welcome americans for prosperity texas a direction -- director peggy calendazenabo.

>> this is so much fun. look at this room. i am so excited to be with you tonight. i want to give a big shot up to the texas contingency, wherever you are, folks. we are proud and our state and we have good reason. texas is number one in job creation. we are number one in business relocation. we are number one in fortune 500 companies. and we just passed a budget that cuts $15 billion without raising taxes, without raising the -- raiding the rainy day fund. we are pretty proud of that. [applause] i am also proud of our governor. governor rick perry is getting the boot up texas award tonight. although he could not be here with us, you will see a message from him later. but tonight is not all about

texas. darn. i am just delighted to be here and so proud of what acr -- aft and eric have built. thank you so much for participating and all you do across the country. it makes such a difference. tonight is my real pleasure to introduce john fund, who really requires no introduction in this room. you know him as a columnist for "the wall street journal," as a fox news commentator. he is the author of several books, the latest "stealing elections." folks across the hall know about that, i am sure. he will have a book signing tomorrow at 11:15 so you can have a copy signed by him. anyone who knows me knows that i am a reagan night -- reganite. i am old enough that i worked in the administration and am proud of ronald reagan. john grew up in california when

ronald reagan was governor. i think you will hear some interesting stories you may not have heard before, some stories about the great communicator. ladies and gentlemen, another great communicator. i am so pleased to introduce john fund. ♪ >> thank you. i suddenly realized that i and the -- and the only thing standing between you and finishing your dinner. on this one issue, i will be a compassionate conservative tonight and not keep you too long. first of all, a question. how many of you out there read or subscribe to "the wall street journal"? how many our viewers of fox news? i think we have covered just about the whole room.

thank you for helping to pay my salary. which you do. you know, i went and did a nice little visit to our netroots nation france tonight, and at nut root -- i am sorry, netroots -- they are very confused. there panel discussion is all the fence, not offense. as one panel leader told me, "what happened last november?" they have still not figured it out. you are the people responsible for that. [applause] as peggy mentioned, i grew up in california when ronald reagan was governor. he made a great impression on me. one of the things i have learned is we figured out that ronald reagan was the great leader of the free world and we won the cold war. we know he reinvigorated the

economy. we know he restored america's pride in itself. but we take for granted that he was a great communicator. we just presume that because he was an actor he knew how to communicate. not the case. he learned. he worked very hard at it. i am going to share with you a couple of ronald reagan anecdotes' i think will explain exactly why he was the great communicator and how we can learn from him to this day, and how you can learn in your communication skills. ronald reagan was hired by general electric when it was a conservative company in 1954. one of the things he had to do for 13 weeks of the year when the show was not being produced was to talk to all the employees at their 234 plants. at the plants, he gave a little talk about hollywood and how things were in show business. he got questions not just about hollywood, but about government regulation and high taxation, and why government was

strangling the economy. he would turn to his advance man after the speeches and say, "where do these people get these questions? they are so well informed." he said general electric had a book club and they were encouraged to read things like "road to serfdom." ronald reagan said, "if i am going to address these people 13 years with a lot -- if i'm going to address these people, i need to read these books." he got those books and they helped convert him to free- market economics. ronald reagan, everywhere he went, to prepare for his speeches, would take a little note cards every time he read a particular anecdote that was interesting, heard a joke that was good, and economic statistic. he would write them down on these note cards and keep them in a special briefcase he had with all kinds of pockets. these note cards were color- coded. coded. green was